Perfect Summer Recipes | Ann Arbor Photographer

Nothing says summer better than some mouth watering BBQ. Well, if you know me, you know cooking is not one of my strengths, but slowly I am becoming more adventurous with my undertakings. I didn’t have to work my “day job” for the Fourth, but the store was still open so I wanted to bring my co-workers some food since they wouldn’t be able to enjoy it with their families. I took on the task of making ribs, corn on the cob, homemade mac ‘n cheese, and dessert. Scary for someone who doesn’t know much about cooking! But I put on my big girl pants and set forth on making these perfect summer recipes.

Pinterest is the first place I look for any recipe and so far I haven’t been steered wrong. I found this recipe for ribs that looked SO easy, I figured I couldn’t mess it up even if I tried.

Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs

Ingredients

1 pkg. of bone in or boneless ribs

1/2 cup steak sauce

1 bottle of BBQ sauce
salt, pepper, grill seasoning

Instructions

Rub the ribs down with salt, pepper, and grill seasoning

Then add the steak sauce, coating both sides of the ribs

Place in the crock pot (I suggest using a slow cooker liner to aid in clean up!)

Then pour in BBQ sauce covering the ribs

Cook for 4-6 hours in the crock pot

When cooked & tender place in the oven on broil for about 5 minutes to caramelize the sauce

Enjoy!

The dessert sounded easy enough to make, but I wanted to simplify it even more and cut out making my own whip cream and just used Cool Whip. These were SO simple to make and they look so festive. Call me nerdy, but I love holiday themed food. Remember my Memorial Day Cheesecake?

Fourth of July Sundaes

Ingredients

Instructions

Prepare gelatin as instructed
Place the strawberries in the bottom of a cup
Pour gelatin over strawberries
Put in the refridgerator to set
Once firm add a layer of Cool Whip
Top with blueberries and serve

This mac ‘n cheese was part of Lil Blue Boo’s 12 Fall Crockpot Recipes. I am in love with her blog, she’s always posting something hilarious and despite being dealt some bad cards in life, she has the most positive outlook. I will admit I was more nervous to make this than I was the ribs. In my head I thought if any of these were going to not turn out it would be this. Plus, I’ve never really had homemade mac ‘n cheese so I don’t really know what it’s supposed to taste like. Naturally I dove in head first and I am quite impressed with the results! The original recipe was kind of bland, but I added some oregano, chili powder, and garlic salt to give it a bit more taste. Oh and I didn’t add the bread crumbs to the top, purely because I forgot to pick them up at the store.

Instructions

Spray the inside of your slow-cooker with cooking spray or grease it with olive oil
Combine milk, evaporated milk, eggs, butter, and salt in the slow-cooker and wisk until smooth
Add the shredded cheese (not the Parmesan) and macaroni
Sprinkle with black pepper and any other spiced you’d like to add
Stir gently with a spatula to coat evenly
Sprinkle Parmesan on top
Cover and cook on HIGH for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes reduce temperature to LOW and cook for 2-2 1/2 hours until custard is set in the center and the pasta is tender
Sprinkle bread crumbs on top (optional)

More Great Summer Recipes & Delicious Food

My Pinterest food board is filled with amazing looking food, some recipes I’ve tried were wonderful, but some not so successful (to no fault of the original poster, just a testament to my culinary skills haha).